New SWATH cast interview with Flicks and Bits

In the epic action-adventure ‘Snow White and the Huntsman,’ Kristen Stewart (Twilight) plays the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen (Oscar-winner Charlize Theron) who is out to destroy her. But what the wicked ruler never imagined is that the young woman threatening her reign has been training in the art of war with a huntsman (Chris Hemsworth, The Avengers) who was dispatched to kill her. Sam Claflin (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) joins the cast as the prince long enchanted by Snow White’s beauty and power. Directed by acclaimed commercial director and state-of-the-art visualist, Rupert Sanders, ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ stars Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Sam Claflin, Noah Huntley, Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Steven Graham, and Nick Frost. The film arrives in cinemas June 1st. Look out for a more in-depth interview for ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ with Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, and Charlize Theron closer to the films release.

In this new vision of the iconic fairy tale, can tell us a little bit about your incarnation of Snow White and her connection to The Huntsman through the story?

Kristen Stewart: We do stay very true to who she is in this story. She represents a very general, very “nice” sort of ideal – but not perfect – look at how humanity can be good and how they can care about each other. Snow White, she has an innate ability to see people for who they really are. She feels so sorry for The Huntsman at first, but she can see through his rugged exterior and he helps her….sort of not die (laughs). And they help each other, they draw each other out of this state of just frozen nothingness. Because he’s the first person she meets along the way, they kind of come alive together.

Charlize and Chris, where are your characters when we first meet them in ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’?

Charlize Theron: She’s a character that’s born into this gypsy community, gypsy philosophy, this idea that her mother instilled to her at a very young age that she can only be her true best self if she remains young and stays beautiful. So she kind of realises with her magical powers that, that is her survival, that is the road that she travels.

Chris Hemsworth: The Huntsman is a bit of a lost soul. We meet him at the beginning of the film and he’s quite the drunk, he’s living in the woods on his own. He’s paid as a mercenary to hunt people down and he’s forced and threatened into hunting down Snow White.

What was it like working on the set of this fantastical world Rupert Sanders created? I can imagine that world helping inform your performances as well?

Charlize Theron: Definitely. It is like nothing I’ve been apart of, it really is epic in scale, it is gorgeous, it is disturbing. It’s always walking this very fine line of fantasy and reality, heightened fantasy and harsh realities. I think that’s the thing that grounds it and makes you care, makes you connect, makes you hooked. But at the same time it’s an incredible feast for the eyes. It’s beautifully shot, this film is really really gorgeous. Scale wise, and on how epic it is, and on how visual it is…..combined with the actors Rupert got play in this, I mean the Dwarves alone, the cast is incredible! Grounding the world in hyper reality, I think that’s people will really connect with. At the core it’s going to be something emotionally that really moves them. I think that’s the ultimate thing you can ask for in a film.

Chris, how did you find it working with Rupert, with his visual style but also his storytelling abilities?

Chris Hemsworth: He knows how to tell such a vivid story in such a short amount of time with such great imagery. Everyday we’d be on set and he’d be like, “What if we put the camera up here and you do this,” he’d improvise with it and just get amazing, amazing shots. You either have an eye for those kind of things or you don’t. He just sees the world from a different point of view. Joining the film, I loved the script, and then I met with Rupert and saw visually how creative he was. We had a lot of discussions about character and story and I was inspired by him. I love these sort of films; big, fantastical, epic stories that have a real heart at the centre of them.

How was it for you working opposite Kristen as Snow White and Charlize as this incredibly icy Evil Queen?

Chris Hemsworth: Kristen is so detailed in her approach. She has a real strong sense of the truth in the scene, and unless she believes it, it’s not gonna happen, you know? She’s got to find out, “What are we doing, why are we doing it?” She’s so detailed. Charlize, Charlize is intimidating as The Queen. There’s no doubt that she would scare the hell out of you if you were standing opposite her (laughs). When she’s sitting up on the throne, she has this icy, cold, evil stare that she throws at you. I wouldn’t want to fight her (laughs).

How about for you Charlize, working opposite Chris and Kristen?

Charlize Theron: It was a good group of people, and Chris is right up there. He’s like the salt of the earth, and he just has an incredible drive. He really loves what he does and understands how fortunate he is to be in the position he is. And he wants to push himself. I think all of us in this film came with that energy. Which is an amazing thing to be around, to feel like you have to be on your toes with your fellow actors at all times. And Kristen, I’m so thoroughly impressed with her, when I think of myself back when I was her age, boy, she is really special. She’s really got a good, good head on her shoulders.

Kristen Stewart: Charlize is perfect to play the Evil Queen because she’s got this presence, and people say that about a lot of people, but she can level you in a great way, in a bad way, however she wants. Me and Chris worked together really great because he really surprises me, things just came out without having to talk about them or anything. I’m always obsessed with, “What about this? Have you thought about this?” So we really surprised each other when we can go and actually run the scene and both of our “processes” don’t matter, it’s so much fun to just go with him. Plus he’s just really funny.

From the looks of the trailers and clips, it looks like ‘Snow White and The Huntsman’ takes a epic and dark approach to the classic Snow White tale….

Kristen Stewart: Yeah. You expect the animals and the forest and the things to be moving strangely and all that. But there’s just something so not fairytale-esq about it, that makes it that we’re not copying anything, we’re not imitating anything. It’s like we’re making a new fairytale. And it’s so worthy of the word. I mean, it really does take you somewhere that is otherworldly.